- Before we start editing our individual scenes,I was to review some of the traditional editing conventions,and for some of you this will just be a refresher,but this will help you get going.Let's step into 02-04 Rules and take a lookat some of the wrong ways, and then the right waysto cut between two shots.Now the first show we're going to look atis actually done pretty well,and I'm doing this for a reason.So take a quick watch.- It's cold.- Did you finish it?- So what happens here is the shot's relatively good.

It's a little bit of a delayuntil he says, "Did you finish it?"But I really don't mind that,because it's building up drama,and the reason I started with thisis that some of you will like this edit,and some of you will be bothered by it.This is intentional, because editingis a very subjective thing.It's artistic.So always go with your gut and you'll realizethat you're not going to make everybody happy,and there's always a different wayto cut together a scene.Now, let's take a look at someobviously incorrect edits.

- It's cold.- Did you finish it?- Now, the problem with this scene here isthat it goes from static to static.You should always try to cut on action,because the viewer is distractedby the motion in the scene,and they don't see the cut.The objective of making a good cutis so they don't even notice it.So what we're doing,instead of cutting from a static wide shotto a static close up,or in this case a static over the shoulder,is we do something very similar,but instead when we cut,we cut while Joseph is turning his headto the left to look at the coffee,and he turns it back when we return to the shot.

- How's the coffee?- It's cold.- Because he's turning his head,that's where our attention is drawn,and we don't notice the edit.And it doesn't matter that we don't see his face,because we hear his voice,and we see the reaction of Mr. Dalton.Moving on to the next scene.- Need it.- The company's in -- We actually did cut on the action,so it should have worked.But if you take a look,when I cut between the wide shot and the close up,yes, there was actionas he left the screen in the wide shotbut look the expressionand the position of Joseph's head.

When we cut to the next shot,not only is the position changed,but his expression and his mood.He went from kind of being downtroddento being angry, all within the fraction of a millisecond,and that's why that edit doesn't work.To make an edit like this work,you often have to use B roll or cutaway,and rethink how you're going to transitionfrom one shot to the other.Let's take a look at a more effective waythat this shot could work.- Firm could be on the line here.6:00 p.m. tonight, simple deadline.

Need it.- The company's in freefall,and you want it -- So what happened here is,we did cut on him turning away,but we cut to a B roll shot of his back.Now this does two things for me.It allows me to transition more smoothly,because I can actually put Joseph's voice underneath,and it also makes a statementthat he's turning his back on Joseph.So it's really a win-win situationwhen it comes to the editing.By the time we see Joseph's face,we've already heard him speak.

We know he's angry, and the cut works.- The company's in freefall,and you want it -- Moving ahead, we have another situationwhere we're cutting from the static wide shot.- Make sure you do your job,nothing more, nothing less.Understand?6:00 p.m.- Now the timing is really good,because it builds up drama of"Nothing more, nothing less,"and then the "6:00 p.m."And I want that amount of space,but it's a boring shot.

The wide shot would get boring,and the close shot gets boring.So again, we can fix it.It's a little more complicated,because we're going to actuallymove Joseph's response audioand we're going to mix up the scenes.But take a look how you could edit itto make it more fluid and more dramatic.- I know the risk.It's a creative approach.- My creativity has nothing to do with this.I did my time.

My job now is to wear this suit.- So what makes this work?Well, first of all, we have him turning his backand that's fine.But this is where we actually make up some space.When we cut to him,he's starting to walk back into the shotfrom this angle and then as we cut to that side shot -- My creativity -- He's continuing to walk,and because there's actionwe don't notice there's any difference.Now, take a look when we cut back to him,again, it's not static,and that's why it works.

- Has nothing to do with this.I did my time.My job now -- As he says the word "now,"he actually leans into the shot,so we're cutting on that action.So instead of him standing there,because he's leaning in,we're drawn to that and we just listen to what he's saying.So that's the trick of howyou can massage your shot,or massage multiple shots to make them flow.Let's take a look at this next situation.

Now, what you'll notice with this sceneis that they don't look like they're looking at each other.They're actually both looking off in the same direction.They're eye lines don't match.That happens sometimeswhen they shoot something very quicklyand the actors aren't looking in the right direction,or it's iso cameras,and it's very distracting.Well, the truth is that I actually cheatedto illustrate this point.The director actually did a very good jobwhen editing this.I simply flipped the scene.So I'm going to go ahead and remove this.

Let me just click on thisand go ahead and open up the inspector.There's our effect.It's flipped.Actually, it looks like I flipped it,and I flipped it again.But that's okay.I'm going to simply turn off the flip,and now he's looking in the right direction.Let me go ahead and close the inspectorso you can see it better,and I'll hit play.As you see, it now looks as ifthey're actually having a conversation.

Now, you'll probably noticethat there was no audio with this scene,and I did that intentionally,because I wanted to makeanother very useful point.You should always watch your editswith the sound turned off,because then you're not distracted by the audio,and you can easily see if an edit works or not.As a matter of fact,I often recommend to people,if they want to become a better editor,go and watch television with the sound off.Now, don't think I'm crazy here.It's not like a turn on the TV at 10 o'clockand watch a one hour drama with no sound.

But there are a lot of timesthat I'm either in an airport or a restaurantor waiting somewhere where I can see a televisionand not hear what's being said,and it allows me to focuson the actual cutting and the shotswithout being distracted by the storyor being cheated by the sound spaceof J cuts and L cuts.Another thing you should doin watching this type of programis just start counting whenever they cut to a scene.One, two, three, etc.And you'll notice that most shots lastbetween four ans six secondsbefore they cut to another shot.

Now this is not a hard and fast rule.In a lot of situations,like in a montage or an action sequence,you may cut every 10 or 20 frames.Other times, you may be creatinga very lyrical momentor a beautiful pan of a horizon,and you may have a shot that's 30 or 40 seconds.So don't say every shot has to be four to six,but there is a natural rhythm that flowswith that frequency of cuts.And finally, we're going to take a lookat this last scene,which we've actually watched earlier,to see how good it sounds,and not be distracted by the visuals.

This is the reverse.Instead of watching without sound,sometimes it's good to listen without watching.I do this two ways.I listen to TV when I'm in the kitchen,and I can actually hearhow deep the sound is with all the sound effects.And I'm not distracted by the visuals.Again, when you cut your show,playing it back and listening to itwithout watching it,it will allow you to find outif there's audio issues, blank spaces,repeated words.Now, you could turn your head awayor turn your monitor off.But if you actually start editing,sometimes you want to look at the screenbut not at the picture.

Now, there are ways to turnthe visibility off on your video,but that's a lot of steps.So what I like to do is simplyput something on top of it that's dark.So I'm going to go to the generator's tab.I'll show you exactly what I do.I go the the generators tab.I go to solids,and I just choose custom,because that's going to give me black.And then I can select where I want that to start.If I want, I can either double click on it,or just drag it over as a connected clip,and now stretch it out as long as I need.

This allows me to watch my timeline,but be focused on just the audio.- Company's in freefall,and you want to take another risk.It's a creative approach.- My creativity has nothing to do with this.I did my time.- So these are just a fewof some of the basic editing conventionsthat we'll explore throughout the course,and we'll also look at a few more tricksto make your edits smoother.

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Released

10/20/2014

How shots are assembled, performances are revealed, and images are ordered are a few of the ingredients that turn a good film into a great one. This course shows filmmakers and film editors how to make critical creative and technical decisions and present their vision dynamically with Final Cut Pro. Author Abba Shapiro illustrates important techniques for putting shots together to create a short film, covering the entire post-production process—from organizing footage, crafting scenes, and editing dialogue to building montages and adding music. Each step of the process is rich with object lessons that are applicable to situations editors face in the real world.

Note: This course was updated to reflect the changes to Final Cut Pro X v. 10.1.x. Although the course was not re-recorded from scratch, we updated each of the movies by adding text overlays to guide you to existing changes. We also updated the exercise files to work with the most current version of the software. Please watch the "Understanding this update and using the exercise files" movie to learn exactly what to expect from this updated course. Working with an earlier version of Final Cut Pro X? Watch Narrative Scene Editing with Final Cut Pro X 10.0.9.